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Julia “@b0rk” Evans is programming’s zine queen!

julia evans - how to be a wizard programmer

Solid advice from Julia Evans’ Twitter feed. Click to see the source.

If you’re a programmer (or hope to be one) and you’re not following Julia Evans (@b0rk) on Twitter, go and fix that mistake right now.

Her Twitter feed has the vibe of a zine — pronounced zeen — which is short for fanzine, which in turn is short for fan magazine. Before the web, fans of certain things — alt-rock or punk bands, cyberpunk, various cultural movements or social causes, jokes, whatever — would publish stapled-together photocopied publications as little do-it-yourself magazines:

zine covers

Zines. Click on the photo to see the source.

Here’s a definition of zine in zine format:

whats a zine

Click the photo to see the source.

Zines came about when it was easier to get your hands on a photocopier and Letraset than a computer and printer that could print more than just text. By necessity, they featured a lot of hand-drawn, hand-lettered art and comics…

zines

…and because they’re labors of love, they often feature material that you wouldn’t find in larger, more mainstream publications. Zines cover all sorts of topics, from underground culture and music to science and social responsibility…

Free Water v Bottle Water

Click to see at full size.

…and there’s at least one heavily-trafficked site that started off as a zine:

boing boing zines

Julia’s actually up and made zines about programming, what with her zine on debugging your programs using strace and her upcoming one, Linux debugging tools you’ll ❤️  (pictured below):

linux debugging tools youll love

Here’s another gem from her Twitter feed:

julia evans - how i got better at debugging

Click to see the source.

I think she’s bringing back something that we lost when why the lucky stiff decided to pull a J.D. Salinger and disappear from the web:

why upside-down ruby

But hey, this post is about Julia, so let’s end it with one more goodie from her Twitter feed!

julia evans - spy on your cpu

Click to see the source.

Once again, if you haven’t added @b0rk to your Twitter feed, you’re missing out on some great stuff!